So I'm finally getting around to updating the blog after pulling out Grizabella's Atomic 4.
After driving around with the engine in the back of my truck for two days, on the morning of January 29, I whacked together a quick little dolly for the engine to sit on and slid it down two 2x10s out of the truck and onto the dolly.

I previously had broken off one of the thermostat housing studs, so I started with getting that out. The other one had come out without too much fuss, but the broken one was being recalcitrant. I used my MAPP torch, applied copious quantities of Kroil (magic stuff, that), heated it again, etc., then grabbed the broken stud with vise grips, started twisting and ... it cracked and crumbled.

I finally managed to work the head loose enough that I could wiggle it slightly back and forth and gradually got it high enough that I could pivot it on that one remaining stud past the valves and spun it around until the stud came loose.

With the head finally removed, I took off the starter:

Took off the flywheel and flywheel housing, water jacket side cover, valve cover, distributor and water pump.

I scraped off the gasket remains and dug around in the various water passages, which were pretty full of crud. I was dismayed to find a couple passages completely blocked.

But overall, everything actually looks to be in excellent condition, considering it's a 27 year-old, raw water-cooled engine. But I think it spent several years on the hard and actually has not had a whole lot of use, relatively speaking.

Thankfully, the cylinders look to be in very good condition - no holes or anything!

Here's how it looked after a couple hours of disassembly:

And that's where the work stopped for the day...